Steelers pick up PSU TE James

The Steelers selected three players from the Southeastern Conference in the first three rounds of the NFL draft. They changed course Saturday and drafted their fourth- and fifth-round picks from the Big Ten, including tight end Jesse James of Penn State and South Allegheny High School.

James, who is 6 feet 7 and 261 pounds, is the third former WPIAL player to be drafted by the Steelers in the past eight years, joining A.Q. Shipley (2009) and Ryan Mundy (2008). He also is the first Penn State player to be drafted by the Steelers since Shipley.

James adds depth to an aging position group. Starting tight end Heath Miller will turn 33 in the fall and his backup Matt Spaeth will turn 32.

“We like a lot of things about him,” tight ends coach James Daniel said. “We feel like he is a young man who can come in and add something to the Pittsburgh Steelers this upcoming season.”

James was not a prolific receiver at Penn State, where he had 38 receptions for 396 yards in 2014, but Daniel believes he has the potential to develop into a red-zone target in the NFL. He also has the size to become an effective in-line blocking tight end, which is an important component for the Steelers.

“He has natural length and will be able to handle the line of scrimmage,” Daniel said. “He wasn’t used a lot as a receiver. The evaluation I did on him you see him catching balls, and he made a couple of tough catches. When a guy hasn’t been put in the situation it’s hard to say that he is definitely going to be able to do this or definitely going to be able to do that. But you don’t see anything that says he’s not going to be a good receiver. We are going to bring him in here and work and see if he is good in all phases of the game. He has enough talent to be good in all phases of the game.”

James, who watched the draft in University Park, Pa., visited the Steelers in the predraft process and is glad to be coming home to play professional football.

“I couldn’t be happier,” he said. “I think it’s a great fit. I couldn’t be more excited to get there and go to work.”

Ohio State pipeline

While James is the first Penn Stater to be drafted by the Steelers in six years, Ohio State cornerback Doran Grant continued the pipeline from Columbus to Pittsburgh.

For the fifth time in six years the Steelers drafted a player from Ohio State. Grant, who was selected in the fourth round, joins former Buckeyes Will Allen, Mike Adams, Cam Heyward and Ryan Shazier on the roster.

Within minutes of being selected by the Steelers, Grant already had Faced Timed with Shazier and received texts and calls from Heyward and Adams.

“There is definitely a strong Buckeye connection,” Grant said.

The only year in the past six the Steelers did not draft an Ohio State player was 2013. All of those draft picks remain on the roster, except for 2010 picks Thaddeus Gibson and Doug Worthington.

The next Antonio?

In the sixth round, the Steelers went to Central Michigan to get defensive end L.T. Walton.

The previous time the Steelers drafted a player from Central Michigan in the sixth round it turned out OK. His name was Antonio Brown.